Lamp attachment



Feb. 9, 1943. R 1 BRAND-r 2,310,509

LAMP ATTACHMENT Filed Aug. 22, 1941 2 sheets-sheet 1 LAMP ATTACHMENT Filed Aug. 22, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 'Y Patented Feb. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PENE VFFICE LAMP ATTACHMENT Robert J. Brandt, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application August 22, 1941, Serial No. 407,927

1 Claim.

The invention relates to a lamp attachment and in particular to an attachment for a lamp useful for motion picture photography.

When employing such lamps to illuminate the subject to be photographed, it is frequently desirable to vary the intensity and/or the diffusion, and/or the color of the light from such lamps, in order to obtain desired photographic eiiects. For this purpose it has heretofore been proposed to employ in front of the lamp one or more light iilters which may be made of silk or other suitable material, held in a frame. Use' of such llters as heretofore proposed, has been attended with two principal defects or objections, namely,

(l) light leaks past the sides of the lter making f it necessary to adjust a screen so as to prevent such leak light from getting into the camera, and (2) no convenient arrangement is provided for supporting the iilters in front of the lamp. The result is that valuable time is lost, as highly paid artists on the set are kept idle while the attendant screens off the leak light and adjusts the lilters for Whatever number of lamps are employed.

An object of the invention is to overcome these defects, namely to provide a lamp attachment which will hold any desired large number of lters in front of the lamp in such a way as to prevent the necessity of separately using adjustable screens to block off leak light, the attachment itself serving as a support onto which the lters may be placed, and from which they may be removed readily without loss of valuable time.

Another object of the invention is to improve the construction of the lter frame so that a number of them may be stacked in a small space in front of the lamp, and so that each iilter will be securely held by a frame which is rigid, although light in weight.

For further details of the invention, reference may be made to the drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a lamp attachment and lter frame according to the present invention, applied to a typical incandescent flood lamp.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the lamp attachment of Fig. 1, showing one of the lter frames partly removed.

Fig. 3 is a plan view looking down on top of the lamp attachment of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view, with parts broken away, of one of the parts of the lamp attachment of Figs. 1 to 3.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section, and with certain parts broken away, of a modified form of lamp attachment removably associated with another type of studio lamp.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view, with parts broken away, on line 6 6 of Fig. 5 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 7 is a perspective View of the lamp attachment and iilter frame holder of Figs. 5 and 6.

Fig. 8'is a perspective view of a hood for the lamp attachment of Fig. '7.

Referring in detail to the drawings, I represents a conventional studio lamp having a base 2 which is adjustably supported on a post 3 by a locking handle li. The top of lamp I, as shown in Fig. 3, is usually provided with a number of Ventilating openings 5, and with a pane 6 of sand blasted glass or the like which serves as a diffuser. lasst is supported in two channels 'I and 6 at each side of lamp I. In order to adapt such a lamp to readily accommodate a plurality of iilters Without leakage of light, I provide lamp I with two side wings 9 and I0 which serve both as light shields and filter holders. Wing I8 is shown in Fig. 4 and it comprises a metallic channel which is about as long as the front of the lamp is high, and having a back flange II and a front iiange I2 which are bent at right angles to the main body I3 of the wing I0. The bottom of the front iiange I2 has a cutaway portion as indicated at i4 to permit insertion of one or more of the lter frames I5. Either bent up from, or spot-welded to the body I3 of the wing IB is an L shaped piece I6 having a horizontal portion I'l serving as a shelf on which the bottom of the lter frames I 5 rest, and having a vertical portion I8 which serves as a stop to prevent the lter frames I5 from sliding out. The vertical portion I8 as shown in Fig. 4, is preferably set back behind the front edge of the main body portion I3, to make it easier to insert and remove the lter frames I5. The wing 9 at the other side of the lamp is similar to and a mirror image of the wing I0. The shelf piece I1 is made long enough to support any desired number of lter frames, and in the illustration in Fig. 3, it could support about six filter frames, although the wings 9 and I0 may be Wider or narrower than as shown, to accommodate any desired number.

The filter frame I5 as shown in Fig. 2, is inserted into position in front of the lamp by inserting it into the opening I4 between the bottom of flange I2 and the top of flange I8, and intov the corresponding opening I4 for the other wing 9, the filter frame I5 being pushed upwardly until the lower edge of the lter frame passes over the top 0f the ange I8 and the corresponding ange for wing 9, whereupon the filter frame I is dropped to rest on the body Other lter frames may be inserted in like manner.

As shown in Fig. 1, the lter frame I5 may comprise a sheet 2B of silk or other material held by framework 2|, each side of which' comprises three parallel metal rods 22, the ends of which are cut at 45 to join with three similar rods 23 at the left side of the frame 2|, and the latter in turns are cut at 45 and joined with three similar parallel rods 24 which comprise the bottom of the frame, and th'e latter are similarly cut at 45 to join three vertical rods 25 at the right side o'f the frame 2 I. Across the middle of each such set of three rods is brazed or spot-welded a cross or tie rod such as shown at 26, and at each corner, the

adjoining ends of the respective rods are brazed together and on top thereof is brazed a cross or tie rod such as indicated at 2'|. The rods 22--25 are all in the same plane. The sheet 2E] is preferably suitably secured over the center one of each of the three rods of the frame 2| whereby the outermost rod of the set is adapted to be grasped by the hand of the operator without contacting the sheet 25. The frame 2| as thus constructed, is rigid and light in weight and quite thin, three such filter frames I5 being shown stacked t0- gether in Figs. 2 and 3, whereby a large number of such lter frames I5 may be stacked in a comparatively narrow space.

In the modied form shown in Figs. 5 to '7, I illustrate a conventional lamp 30 of the arc type, having the-usual removable hood 3| supported by a hinge 32 and secured by a lock 33. While the lamp attachment comprising the wings 9 and I0 of Figs. l to 4 is permanently secured to the lamp I, although it could be removable, in Figs. 5 to 7 I illustrate the lamp attachment of my invention as being removable. As shown in Fig. 7, my lamp attachment comprises a frame 40 having two U shaped wings or side pieces 4|, 42 which are held in spaced relation by spaced parallel rods 43, 44 at the bottom, spaced rods 45, 45 at the top, and by a cross piece 4l and a depending flange 48, the latter extending at the same angle as the flare of the top of h'ood 3| as shown in Fig. 5, the ange 48 serving to support the attachment 40 on the lamp 35. Rods 43 to 46, cross piece 41 and flange 48 are brazed at their ends to the side pieces 4 I, 42. Secured inside of the side pieces 4I and 42 is a pair of shelves, one of which is shown at 49 (Fig. '7), the latter having an upstanding iiange 50 which extends parallel to and spaced behind the rod 44 as shown in Fig. 6, to provide a slot into which the upper edge of the lter frame I5 may be inserted, the top of the lter frame I5 being positioned between the rods 45 and 45, and the bottom thereof resting on the shelf 49, and on the companion shelf 49 on the bottom of the side member 42. Any desired number of filter frames I5 may be inserted in the lter frame holder 40, which may also serve to support a hood 5I shown in Fig. 8. The hood 5| has tapering sides as indicated at 52 to provide a restricted opening 53. Hood 5I has side iianges 54 and 55 which t behind the flanges 5G and 5l on the side pieces 4| and 42, respectively, the bottom of hood 5| being supported by the rod 44 as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6.

The bottom of the lter frames I5 is prevented from sliding forward by th'e flanges 59, 55 and rod 43 prevents them from sliding backwards with respect to shelf 49 and the corresponding shelf on the side member 42. The side members 4| and 42 have flanges 58 and 59, respectively, which slide behind the straight vertical sides such as 5| of the hood 3| as shown in Fig. 6, to prevent light which passes through the conventional diiuser 69 and which is partially reflected by the filters I5 from being reflected around the sides of the hood 3|, whereby there is no leakage of light around those sides. When the hood 5| is in place as shown in Fig. 5, the filter frames I5 may be inserted and removed from the top of the filter frame holder 40, between rods 45 and 46, although when hood 5| is removed, it is more convenient to insert and remove the lter frames I5 at the bottom of lter frame holder 40, between the rod 44 and the flanges 50, 50.

It will be apparent that various modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of the following claim.

I claimt A lamp attachment comprising a pair ci U shaped side members of which one branch of the U is adapted to t the sides of a lamp with the bottom of the U and the other branch thereof projecting in front of the lamp. a shelf on each of said side members for supporting th'e bottom of a filter frame, stop means for preventing the bottom ofthe lter frames from sliding off from said shelf, said side members being wide enough to accommodate a plurality of lter frames.

ROBERT J. BRANDT. 

